CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan was denounced on social media — mostly by conservatives — after she said during a Sunday interview that Nazis “weaponized” free speech in order to perpetrate the Holocaust.
The comment was made during an interview with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and as Brennan challenged comments Vice President JD Vance made in Munich Thursday while addressing the city’s annual security conference.
Vance angered many when he called out the country’s NATO allies for — as he described it — stifling free speech and the exchange of ideas.
As Brennan shared criticism of Vance’s remarks and hit him for visiting with leaders of Germany’s far-right AfD party. She said, “Well, he was standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide, and he met with the head of a political party that has far-right views and some historic ties to extreme groups.”
Rubio responded, “No, I have to disagree with you.” He added:
Free speech was not used to conduct a genocide. The genocide was conducted by an authoritarian Nazi regime that happened to also be genocidal because they hated Jews and they hated minorities and they hated those that they had a list of people they hated, but primarily the Jews. There was no free speech in Nazi Germany. There was none. There was also no opposition in Nazi Germany. They were a sole and only party that governed that country. So, that’s not an accurate reflection of history.
The snippet of the lengthy interview went viral on X with many on the right blasting Brennan. Here is a small sample of some of the reactions:
JUST IN: @CBSNews's Margaret Brennan just blamed the Holocaust on "free speech."
This is beyond false. This is repugnant.
Thank you @SecRubio for setting her straight.
(She said while trying to take a shot at Vice President @JDVance's speech in Munich, Germany.) pic.twitter.com/Qd1B1k1xyE— American Accountability Foundation (@Theswampmonitor) February 16, 2025
